Richie Sexson hit two long homers and the Seattle Mariners scored six runs in the second inning Friday night to beat the Chicago White Sox 11-6 and drive the defending World Series champions closer to playoff elimination.
The White Sox lost for the seventh time in eight games and trail Minnesota, which fell 7-3 to Baltimore, by 5{ games in the wild-card race with eight games left. They fell seven games behind AL Central leader Detroit, which beat Kansas City 7-3.
Chicago starter Jose Contreras had to leave after hurting his right leg while covering first base in the second inning. Contreras (13-9), who is 4-9 in the second half, gave up seven hits and five earned runs in 1 2-3 innings.
Seattle starter Gil Meche nearly squandered a 6-1 lead. He allowed six hits and five earned runs in 4 1-3 innings as the White Sox rallied from the early deficit, getting within 7-4 on Juan Uribe's 20th homer in the fourth and eventually cutting it to a run.
Emiliano Fruto (2-1) pitched two innings for the win, leaving with two on in the seventh before George Sherrill got pinch-hitter Joe Crede on a fielder's choice for the final out.
Sexson reached 100 RBIs for the sixth time in his career with his first homer, a two-run liner that easily cleared the fence in straightaway centre in the second.
He hit his second of the game, and 31st of the season, off reliever Brandon McCarthy in the third, a towering shot to left that landed near the top of the bleachers.
After Sexson's first homer put Seattle up 2-1, the Mariners bunched singles by Ben Broussard, Chris Snelling, Willie Bloomquist and Ichiro Suzuki to go up 5-1.
When Kenji Johjima grounded to Paul Konerko at first, Contreras ran to the bag to cover but stumbled and fell, grabbing the back of his right leg. Contreras couldn't catch the flip and Konerko was charged with an error as Suzuki scored the sixth run of the inning.
After a trainer and manager Ozzie Guillen came out, Contreras momentarily got to his feet. After stopping a couple of times, he hobbled off the field.
Jim Thome had an RBI-single in the White Sox's first after an error on Sexson for missing a throw from third baseman Adrian Beltre. Uribe's sacrifice fly in the second scored A.J. Pierzynski, who had doubled and moved up on an infield out.
Scott Podsednik's double and an RBI-single from Jermaine Dye closed the gap to 7-5 in the fifth. After Thome walked, Konerko delivered a run-scoring double to finish Meche and make it 7-6. But Eric O'Flahery got Pierzynski to pop out and Fruto retired Josh Fields on a grounder.
Broussard's two-out RBI-double off Matt Thornton in the sixth put the Mariners up by two runs, and Jose Lopez added a two-run single off Neal Cotts in the eighth.
Notes: It was the 24th multi-homer game of Sexson's career and third this season. ... Mariners SS Yuniesky Betancourt was unable to play after being hit on the inside of his right knee by a pitch Thursday night.
© The Canadian Press, 2007
